A Philly bar in Chicago? It's enemy territory during the Blackhawks-Flyers finals

Yes, Chicago, you have Philadelphia Flyers fans in your midst. We ventured in, with extreme caution, to their go-to bar in Lakeview on game night.

June 02, 2010|By Christopher Borrelli, Tribune reporter

Laura Shunta, small and thin, with dark, shoulder-length hair, walked down Damen Avenue, then Belmont, ignoring the heckles behind her. She kept her cell phone pressed to her ear, but the closer she came to her destination, passing sidewalk cafes and pubs, the more frequently the heckles flew. She is 31, grew up outside Philadelphia and was wearing a black T-shirt with a Flyers logo. She turned onto Sheffield Avenue. "Hey," a call came from behind her, "Phillies suck!"

She stopped. "Phillies?" she replied. "Ya really that drunk already?"

She continued walking until she came to a tavern on a quiet block. In the window were rows of orange and white streamers. She passed men at the bar wearing orange shirts, until she stopped at a table toward the back. Around it were a handful of men and women in matching Flyers jerseys, their elbows propped on an orange tablecloth, seated beneath a Philadelphia Eagles banner, surrounded by a dozen identical tables, each covered in Flyers-orange tablecloths.

"Got booed all the way here," she said, triumphant.

Philadelphia pride!

Catch it, ya jackass!

Rather, catch it, if you so choose, at Mad River Bar & Grille in the Lakeview neighborhood. Mad River is a Philadelphia sports bar in the heart of Chicago. So there you go. You have that information now. Enjoy that information, pal. The cross streets are Sheffield and George. Understand, however, that Mad River is a gentle place, owned by a pair of friendly New Yorkers who live in New York and own five other Mad River bars, all on the East Coast, including two in Philadelphia. They themselves like Chicago fine. That said, Mad River Chicago has been a Philadelphia bar since 2007, mainly because the Philadelphia Sports Group of Chicago took up residence there, moving over from its old home, the displaced Hi-Tops in Wrigleyville.

Nevertheless, Chicago, you are welcome inside.

In fact, for the past few days, management has taken pains to remind Chicago it is welcome. True, during football season, the DJ plays the Eagles fight song, and, true, manager Mark Calabretta checked with the Philly fans to make sure he played the right music whenever the Flyers scored. And yes, with the Flyers in the Stanley Cup finals, authentic Amoroso rolls were ordered for the Mad River cheesesteaks. But just the other day, for the first time in forever, a Blackhawks banner was hung from the rafters, and on Saturday, Mad River put actual Blackhawks-red tablecloths on a few of its best tables.

"But generally, I gotta say, you don't see a lot of she-KAY-go people come in much on game days," said Matt Schmidt, 26. "When someone from Chicago does come in wearing a Chicago sports jersey, we boo and whatnot, in a friendly way, right? But we definitely establish dominance, then they usually leave after that. We're not bad people or anything. I mean, we're not here to ruin your day. We let our teams do that. Right? Know what I mean?"

As for the reputation of Philadelphia sports fans as being a bunch of disgusting, lowlife thugs — criminals, basically — it's just not true.

Casey Burdsall, 29, is the primary ringleader of the Philadelphia Sports Group of Chicago, and sure, last week she did wear a Flyers jersey to work, and on the bus home, and said she loved rubbin' it in people's faces, but all that negative stuff you've heard about Philly fans is bunk, she added. "A lot of the Philly fans here have lived in Chicago awhile, long enough to take on a mellow Midwest thing and soften a bit. I know we have a reputation for throwing snowballs at Santa Claus and intentionally vomiting on people in the stands. It's a reputation I don't think we're going to live down anytime soon, but really we're just tough, serious people when it comes to our teams. We love Philly sports — almost to a detriment, I suppose you might make the case."

Saturday night, we waded into enemy territory. First night of the Stanley Cup finals.

Entering Mad River an hour before the game, we saw immediately the people we were looking for. The Philadelphia Sports Group of Chicago is a 435-member organization that is as loud as a prison colony of several thousand, and like a prison colony, orange was the predominant wardrobe color.

By the time the puck was dropped, the room was awash in orange, body to body, with pockets of mystified-looking Blackhawks fans here and there. Tom Jones, 28, grew up on the South Side. He sat between two Flyers tables and wore a Blackhawks jersey and a frozen smile. "I came because I wanted to make our presence known. But to be honest, I didn't think it would be this bad." A few tables away Mike Gasser, 26, sat with friends. After a round of "Let's go Flyers!" faded out, he joined in a less confident chant of "Let's go Blackhawks!" He patted his pant leg. "I just put my wallet in my front pocket," he said.